andrew7 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Just received this email from BTST. http://www.speedcameralocator.com/exchangemybtst.html I had one of their original units but sent it back because it didn't spot mobile traps and specs cameras.. Their new model is GPS and looks like top of the tree, with DAILY camera updates (nobody else does this) if you want them... Their original unit was £150 so it looks like this one will be the same-ish price... Edited: Looks like it is 299 quid.... Trifle pricey but looks good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey76364 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Will have to read that again later ...couldnt take it all in the heat is getting to me... but looks good !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Some really useful unique features. I have a Road Angel 2 and have always thought it should show the speed of the road you're on and not annoy you if you're doing under the limit! This one does this. Only worry is how loud the voice alerts are as they can be easily drowned out by loud music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 That looks brilliant IMO, definatly worth saving for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Check this one out - http://www.drive-smart.co.uk/ i have had one for 6 months or so, no subscription charges, daily updates, additional laser detector and garage door openers available to fit under number plate, the best customer service i have come across for a long time. Customiseable wav voices so you can have your mrs tell you your "speed is too fast" even when she is not with you. They are also working on a nav unit and a heads up display is in development. Not the most elegant bit of kit but 'just about' fits in the spare din space. Available on ebay around £80, (rrp £189) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 I like to be able to see out of the windscreen, that think looks like a 32" TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 does the drive smart one off the the constant update thing though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 does the drive smart one off the the constant update thing though? Updated daily apparently, common sense tells me no system can be 100% accurate, there are thousands of permanent and temporary sites to log and they change by the hour, especially safety vans, police laser and roadworks. Read the threads on the drivesmart site and see what the users think, or check a supplier comparison like http://www.radar-detectors.co.uk/radar_detector_comparison.asp You do get a good response from their customer sevice and they do add features to their upgradeable software when a sensible request is posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Customiseable wav voices so you can have your mrs tell you your "speed is too fast" even when she is not with you.NO NO NO - I just couldn't live with that. That's half the reason I drive the Supra - to escape! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 NO NO NO - I just couldn't live with that. That's half the reason I drive the Supra - to escape! Well, you use Katherine Zeta Jones's voice telling you your going too fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Updated daily apparently, common sense tells me no system can be 100% accurate, there are thousands of permanent and temporary sites to log and they change by the hour, especially safety vans, police laser and roadworks. QUOTE] Aha! Not correct, according to their blurb: Mobile Speed Trap Detection This is really where the competing products fall down. There is no good reason for this because the Police BY LAW must announce seven days prior to operating mobile speed traps in a new area exactly where they will be doing so. ...and to be fair to the Police, they do this because it is systemised and doesn’t require anyone to make the announcement -- in order to get signoff on a new location, it must be automatically added to the database and just needs someone to download it, which we do every day. This makes it easy to update all mobile speed camera locations with 100% accuracy BEFORE the Police ever start using them. The only reason I can imagine that competitors to the BTST Locator do not update these locations regularly is because you need to pay someone to do it (which we do). So now we had a database that is 100% accurate and that no other speed camera detector will ever be able to use (remember our shareholding in the mapping company -- we have the exclusive rights to the fixed speed camera locations database and we will NEVER allow any rival to use these locations). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Well, you use Katherine Zeta Jones's voice telling you your going too fast! That's even worse - she's Welsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Updated daily apparently, common sense tells me no system can be 100% accurate, there are thousands of permanent and temporary sites to log and they change by the hour, especially safety vans, police laser and roadworks. QUOTE] Aha! Not correct, according to their blurb: Mobile Speed Trap Detection This is really where the competing products fall down. There is no good reason for this because the Police BY LAW must announce seven days prior to operating mobile speed traps in a new area exactly where they will be doing so. ...and to be fair to the Police, they do this because it is systemised and doesn’t require anyone to make the announcement -- in order to get signoff on a new location, it must be automatically added to the database and just needs someone to download it, which we do every day. This makes it easy to update all mobile speed camera locations with 100% accuracy BEFORE the Police ever start using them. The only reason I can imagine that competitors to the BTST Locator do not update these locations regularly is because you need to pay someone to do it (which we do). So now we had a database that is 100% accurate and that no other speed camera detector will ever be able to use (remember our shareholding in the mapping company -- we have the exclusive rights to the fixed speed camera locations database and we will NEVER allow any rival to use these locations). Safer to be cynical i think, surely the larger companies can afford to do this if it is that straighforward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Just had a good read of the BTST email and it does look very promising. I couldn't see anything about price though - only the £155 discount if you upgrade. I reckon that would put it at around £399 or so at a guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Straightforward yes, but the point here is that the other companies don't want to PAY for the infomation - where he does Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Straightforward yes, but the point here is that the other companies don't want to PAY for the infomation - where he does No the buyer does, - however Drivesmart is the only company (that i know) that does not charge, they claim that charging for updates is a rip off, i dont know how much labour is involved in updateing a database, but all the other companies charge very varying rates so it would be interesting to know how they all source their info. It is (or should be) after all the same information. I would not want to place total confidence in any detector or database free or paid for, but when i hear a claim of 100% accuracy I loose all confidence, no data/software/electonics are perfect, good, best, better,maybe but 100% is a lot to live up to. Would a company claiming this pay your fine under trade descriptions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 He claims 6 full time employees are on the case to make sure database is up to date. True that 100% is a wild claim to make, I mean NOTHING is 100% is it? But even 99.9% ain't bad. I have been considering getting a road angel for some time, but this one will surely warrant further investigation before I decide which to get. It does sound like it's still at the beta stage tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 on the order form it states BTST Locator = £299.95 not cheap plus he hasnt spent his money on his website (bag of shite) but if it works worth every penny n00b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 He claims 6 full time employees are on the case to make sure database is up to date. True that 100% is a wild claim to make, I mean NOTHING is 100% is it? But even 99.9% ain't bad. I have been considering getting a road angel for some time, but this one will surely warrant further investigation before I decide which to get. It does sound like it's still at the beta stage tho. Six database checkers sounds a lot to me, there probably being used for the mapping part rather than camera locations? which would only be a small part of the work? Any database experts on here want to enlighten us? Will there be a customer forum so you can get an idea how good the product is? what other makes have one? Bit hard to seperate fact from salesmanship with most of these companies until you have bought the thing, I let braver/richer souls test the product for me before i decided, so far- so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew7 Posted July 18, 2006 Author Share Posted July 18, 2006 Check this one out - http://www.drive-smart.co.uk/ i have had one for 6 months or so, no subscription charges, daily updates, additional laser detector and garage door openers available to fit under number plate, the best customer service i have come across for a long time. Customiseable wav voices so you can have your mrs tell you your "speed is too fast" even when she is not with you. They are also working on a nav unit and a heads up display is in development. Not the most elegant bit of kit but 'just about' fits in the spare din space. Available on ebay around £80, (rrp £189) Just had a look at the drive smart unit website, The "laser" detector side of it is totally useless. There is no "Scatter" from laser beams. If you hear the warning it is too late. The only way for advanced warning is thro GPS, which taps the recorded database of where the mobile cameras are going to be on a certain day. It doesn't do that. And any company offering indefinite free updates is bound to come unstuck eventually as all the databases have to be paid for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Just had a look at the drive smart unit website, The "laser" detector side of it is totally useless. There is no "Scatter" from laser beams. If you hear the warning it is too late. The only way for advanced warning is thro GPS, which taps the recorded database of where the mobile cameras are going to be on a certain day. It doesn't do that. And any company offering indefinite free updates is bound to come unstuck eventually as all the databases have to be paid for... The Drivesmart is GPS, Just found this on drivesmart Forum "We have the biggest database of any system of possible mobile sites and this is totaly free of charge We currently have 3500+ mobile laser/safety van sites in the Drivesmart database." I agree about the laser detector, you may have a small chance of adjusting your speed as the laser gun resamples aparently, but not ideal though. At least it is in the target area (under number plate) rather than on the dash. It remains to be seen whether not charging is viable, for all we know charging for updates may be a rip off, we do not know how much work is involved once the database is in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew7 Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 I agree about the laser detector, you may have a small chance of adjusting your speed as the laser gun resamples aparently, but not ideal though. At least it is in the target area (under number plate) rather than on the dash. Laser guns only need to resample if they get an error code, otherwise they have your speed in 1/3rd of a second. The only way this would work is if you had a diffuser (which is poentially illegal, "Perverting the Course of Justice") From what I read, you have a laser "detector." Or do you have sensors by the number plate then? I thought they were built into the unit itself. Why would they fit a laser detector if all the potential laser sites were in the database and activated by the GPS? That doesn't make sense. I think there is a bit of oversell crap going on here............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbk Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Laser guns only need to resample if they get an error code, otherwise they have your speed in 1/3rd of a second. The only way this would work is if you had a diffuser (which is poentially illegal, "Perverting the Course of Justice") From what I read, you have a laser "detector." Or do you have sensors by the number plate then? I thought they were built into the unit itself. Why would they fit a laser detector if all the potential laser sites were in the database and activated by the GPS? That doesn't make sense. I think there is a bit of oversell crap going on here............ You sound more cynical than me, quite right too. The drivesmart has laser detectors built in both front and back of the unit so it senses through front and back windscreens if positioned right on dash. I have a Drivesmart add on external laser detector added under number plate (for what its worth) as the drivesmart is fitted into a din slot. Any GPS databases have to be updated daily to be most effective, who's going to do that? not me for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew7 Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 Any GPS databases have to be updated daily to be most effective, who's going to do that? not me for one. When I was doing research just before I bought my present unit I did come across one that updated itself, directly from the GPS. Now that's what I call useful.... Buggered if I can remember which one tho. Must have been expensive too otherwise I would have got it rather than the unit I have now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamer Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 I hope that thing also gets free-view television. Could it be any bigger ? Jesus, what a brick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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